Field experience and current research on humanitarian action and policy

The rapid urbanization of the developing world is giving rise to a host of concerns about the implications of “fragile” cities in relation to security, development and humanitarian action. Presently, more than half of the world resides in cities, and the latest projections reveal that this will rise to almost three quarters by 2050 or 7 billion people. The majority of global urban population growth will be concentrated in large and intermediate cities and their sprawling informal settlements in low-income settings. The refocusing of policy makers on the city is also taking place against an apparent decline in inter- and intra-state conflict over the past two decades and an apparent surge in more acute forms of organized violence associated with networked armed groups and criminal gangs. A debate is brewing on the scope and scale of urban violence in the twenty first century, the challenge this presents to the humanitarian sector, whether and in what ways the humanitarian community should respond. This article offers some preliminary observations on trends in urbanization and urban violence with insights from the security studies and urban geography literatures. Drawing on the experiences of practitioners, it also introduces some reflections on how humanitarian actors are coming to terms with chronic and acute forms of urban violence. It makes the case for humanitarian agencies to more robustly and comprehensively engage with the causes and consequences of urban violence and argues that practitioners must expand the lens of analysis to consider the specific humanitarian needs of populations affected by endemic urban violence.

The unprecedented acquisition of land by transnational companies in areas of chronic food insecurity requires a paradigm shift from food security to food sovereignty. Export-based commercial farming operations in these regions are negatively impacting both the well-being of people and the environment. An Ethiopian case study demonstrates how food insecurity has increased as smallholder farmers are displaced and uncompensated, not only affecting household food security but also livelihoods. Adopting food sovereignty as a thematic construct to reevaluate the system facilitates some unique approaches to food insecurity, such as a focus on land reform, local sustainability and local ownership, and highlights continued calls for reformation in governance, regulation of land grabbing and environmental protection.

Could a doctor working for a humanitarian organisation be sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States for having offered his “expert advice” to people linked to a “terrorist organisation”? That is what is feared by a number of civil rights’ organisations in the US since the Supreme Court declared on 21 June 2010 that the legislation known as the Material Support Statute was constitutional. The Supreme Court ruling recalls the Cold War era when the criminalisation of humanitarian assistance in rebel controlled areas was the norm rather than the exception. Following in the footsteps of the (primarily religious) pro-Biafran organisations in Nigeria, MSF and the “without borders” movement then decided to sidestep government prohibitions by clandestinely crossing the borders. Gaining clandestine access to populations living under the authority of “terrorist” organisations is now much more complicated than it was during the Cold War. Countering the rhetoric that criminalizs humanitarian assistance to the victims located on the “wrong side” of the front line requires new humanitarian policies.

The Colombian internal armed conflict has caused the abandonment of an estimated 5.5 million hectares, roughly 5% of Colombian territory. The Colombian legislature is currently debating a bill that aims at establishing a new land restoration policy vis-à-vis Internally Displaced People (IDP). In a context of ongoing violence, where irreconcilable interests still exist around the use of land, the implementation of the bill will necessarily face an array of hurdles. This paper analyzes how President Juan Manuel Santos’ proposal diverges from international legislation on this issue, in particular with regard to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and the United Nations Principles on Housing and Property Restitution. It proposes ways in which the proposed bill could better comply with these norms and seize the occasion to create a legal framework in which the return of IDPs to their land strengthens the peace process and increases the state’s presence in areas traditionally under the control of the armed groups.

Modern humanitarian action is conducted in a rapidly changing geopolitical environment. This brief theoretical piece is an analysis of how humanitarian action can be perceived from a neo-realist point of view. It suggests that apart from being a leading theory of international relations, neo-realism can throw a light on patterns and strategies of international humanitarian action from the Cold War to modern days. Behavior of states on international arena and international aid organizations can be explained from a neo-realist perspective. Regardless of its theoretical slant, the article suggests that neo-realism can be traced in modern politics of humanitarian assistance.

The Sphere standards have been devised to ensure that people affected by disasters will receive an adequate level of assistance; these standards are used across the world and apply both to natural and complex emergencies. The latter tend to be lasting events that often create a displacement of the population and it is argued that in such situations, where prolonged assistance is required, the Sphere standards may be counterproductive. By using examples of water supply interventions, it is highlighted that in some circumstances the Sphere standards for water quality may only be achieved with systems too complex for the displaced population to operate and maintain on their own. The case of two war-affected areas of Eastern Chad are presented to illustrate the importance of the temporal aspects of the Sphere standards in complex emergencies, and raises important questions regarding the long-term sustainability of adopting such standards for displaced populations.

This study analyzes over 100 camps for Haiti’s internally displaced persons (IDPs), a random sample of one in eight of the 861 in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. Despite the billions in aid pledged to Haiti, most of the estimated 1.5 million IDPs are living in substandard conditions. For example, seven months following the earthquake, 40 percent of IDP camps did not have access to water, and 30 percent did not have toilets of any kind. Only a fifth of camps have education, health care, or psycho-social facilities on site. Services in the camps vary quite significantly according to a range of factors. Camps in Cité Soleil have almost no services, while those in Pétion-Ville are better managed. Smaller camps, with 100 or fewer families, have demonstrably fewer services. Camps situated on private land – 71 percent of the sample – are significantly worse off than those on public land. These conditions were prime breeding ground for the cholera epidemic, which as of the submission of the article claimed more than 1,700 lives. This article ends with recommendations to improve the quality of life within the camps.

Shrinking humanitarian space describes the situation where the changing nature of armed conflict and the geopolitical shifts, particularly since 9/11, combine to inhibit the provision of humanitarian assistance. By conflating unproven assumptions about unrelated challenges under this single heading, humanitarian organizations have generated an unnecessarily gloomy outlook on future prospects for their security and access. There is no conclusive evidence that humanitarian space is declining over time; the blurring of boundaries between humanitarianism and other international responses to conflict often does more good than harm; and in seeking to maximize security and access, emphasis should be focused on practical strategies rather than simply on the reassertion of traditional humanitarian principles.

Religious organizations are increasingly visible in development and humanitarian aid, something which has been reflected in the emergence of a new strand of research, focusing on these organizations and their involvement in the provision of development and humanitarian aid. However, most of this literature centers on individual organizations, and there is a lack of systematic information about larger numbers of organizations: What distinguishes them from other organizations? What characterises them as a group? And does it even make sense to consider them as a group?

Juvenile justice is a fundamental component of criminal justice systems and a critical element of successful international development models. The Convention on the Rights of the Child establishes international standards for the treatment of children, including children in contact with law. This mandate is supplemented by juvenile justice provisions in signatory states around the globe. In post-conflict societies, however, juvenile justice efforts must often compete for scarce government resources. In Iraq in particular, the development of the juvenile justice system has encountered systemic challenges as the country has transitioned from continuous conflict and totalitarian rule to democracy and the rule of law. Based in part on the author’s first hand experience working with juvenile justice institutions in Baghdad, this article examines the state of Iraqi juvenile justice, past and present, and offers a strategy for the future of juvenile justice administration in Iraq.